The Presbyters Project

The king professes the Nicene creed.

His itaque cum omni undique subtilitate et diligentia a nobis ordinatis statuit sancta et uniuersalis synodus aliam fidem nulli licere proferre aut scribere aut edere aut separare aut docere aliter. Qui autem audent aut exponere aliam fidem aut proferre aut tradere alium symbolum uolentibus conuerti ad scientiam ueritatis ex gentibus, ex Iudaeis uel haereticis quibuscumque, si quidem aut episcopi aut clerici fuerint, alienos esse episcopos ab episcopatu et clericos a clero; si uero monachi aut laici fuerint, anathema fieri.

The same text is later repeated after the profession of faith of the Arian clergy and Gothic leaders.

(ed. Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 72; 94-95)

The king professes the Nicene creed.

After all these things had been ordered by us with all subtlety and diligence, the saint and universal council decreed that no one was permitted to profess, write, edit, or teach another creed. Those who dare to set another symbol forth, or to profess it and give it to those from pagans, Jews, or heretics who want to convert to the knowledge of truth, if they are bishops or clerics, they should be demoted – a bishop from the episcopacy, and a cleric from the clergy; if they are monks or laymen, let them be anathema.

The same text is later repeated after the profession of faith of the Arian clergy and Gothic leaders.

(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Title: Third Council of Toledo (589), Concilium III Toletanum, III Concilium Toletanum a. 589
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Third Council of Toledo in 589 is a pivotal event that changed the religious allegiance of the Visigothic kingdom. The ruling elites of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (418-507), and later in the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula adhered to the Arian (Homoian) Christianity, whereas the Roman population were dominantly Catholic (though the frontiers between the denominations were not impenetrable, as we know Goths who converted to the Nicene Christianity and Romans who were Homoian). In 587 King Reccared converted to Catholicism. This was followed by the decision to eliminate the religious division in the kingdom. The Third Council of Toledo in 589 assembled in May to confirm the conversion of all the Gothic leaders and Arian clergy to the Catholicism.

The literature on the conversion of the Visigoths and the Third Council in Toledo is voluminous - only a few seminal books and papers are signalised in the bibliography section below.

Edition:

Editions:

G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.

J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.

Bibliography:

El Concilio III de Toledo. XIV Centenario, ed. R. Gonzalvez, Toledo 1991.

R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford, OX, UK; Malden, MA, USA 2004.

J.N. Hillgarth, "La conversión de los Visigodos. Notas criticas", Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia 34/1 (1961), 21-46.

M. Koch, Ethnische Identität im Entstehungsprozess des spanischen Westgotenreiches, Berlin; New York 2012.

E.A. Thompson, "The Conversion of the Visigoths to Catholicism", Nottingham Medieval Studies 4 (1960), 4-35.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian

Change of denomination

Described by a title - Clericus

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

Relation with - Jew

Further ecclesiastical career - Lay status

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Demotion

Writing activity

Pastoral activity - Preaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER343, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=343